


Island Impression

by clgfanfic



Category: Soldier of Fortune Inc.
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-12
Updated: 2012-11-12
Packaged: 2017-11-18 11:46:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/560723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clgfanfic/pseuds/clgfanfic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The team goes to visit Chance and CJ.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Island Impression

**Author's Note:**

> Originally published in the zine Ouch! #14 and later in Watch Your Six #6 with Mary Fallon Zane.

Now, you have to understand, I've know Matt Shepherd longer than I care to remember, and I'd been working with him and the team for a couple of years when this happened.

First, let me give you a general sense of the time – it's hard to imagine that this happened so long ago.  Matt brought the team together in September of 1997, and what I'm going to tell you happened in December of 2000, so we'd been working together for a little over three years.  We knew each other as well as a group can when you basically live together, work together, get shot and recuperate together.

It was Christmas time, well, New Year's actually, and a little more than a month after Chance and C.J. had decided to take a year off and spend it in paradise – Hawaii.  They headed off to the islands right after Thanksgiving, and we promised to fly out right after Christmas so we could ring in 2001 with them and see how they were doing.

Matt, Benny Ray and I all headed off in different directions for Christmas.  Benny Ray spent his holidays with Mary Ellen and his kids, Matt spent it with his family, and I decided to visit my parents.  But we all met back at the Silver Star on December 29th and flew out to Hawaii.

Chance and C.J. were there to meet us, and even though it had only been a little more than a month since they'd left, it was good to see them again.  I think I even gave C.J. a hug and a kiss, although I'll deny it to this day if he says I did.

Chance and C.J. gave us a whirlwind tour of their section of Maui, and then took us to meet the guys they were working with.  Chance had found a job flying tourists around for a chopper service, and C.J. was doing some demolition work for a local construction company.  Then it was off to see the house they were renting.

I have to admit, I wasn't expecting much.  I mean, they are men after all, and while I knew Chance had some sense of decorum, I figured C.J. might be something of a… bad influence on him.

But I was wrong.

The house was on the small side, but it was absolutely beautiful.  Sitting on the crest of a hill, the side that looked out onto the ocean was made entirely of glass.  The view was spectacular; breathtaking.  The place had come furnished and it must have been done by a professional decorator.

And, to top it all off, the house sat on an acre of land, so it looked like it had been dropped into the middle of the jungle.  Talk about privacy.  The plants and flowers were all lush and colorful.  I saw several small pathways leading into the trees from the patio at the back of the house and knew I'd be spending some time exploring while I was there.

Chance told us they lived in an area with a lot of native Hawaiians, and they were still getting to know them.  There were a lot of cultural tidbits they were learning, slowly but surely.

C.J. nodded, the heartfelt expression on his face telling me that he'd trespassed on those cultural mores somehow, and I hoped Chance would tell us the story, or stories, since I was sure any would be hysterical.

They led us down one of the paths to the beach.  As we were walking along, I heard Matt mutter something under her breath.  I stopped and looked back.  He was standing on the path, his knee bent, one of his feet in his hand.

"What happened?" I asked him.

"I don't know," he said, rubbing his toes.  "I must've kicked a rock or something."

C.J., who was right in front of me, turned with a gasped, "Oh no!" and hurried over to take a look.  He squatted down, his hands moving through the dense tangle of leaves.  Then he turned deathly pale and looked up at Matt, saying, "Oh, Major, now you've done it."

"Done what?" Matt asked, carefully testing his weight on his still smarting foot.

"The statue," C.J. said.  "You kicked it."

          "So?"

          C.J. sighed dramatically.  "I said the very same thing, Matt, and believe me, it's a big deal.  A bloody big deal."

          "What?  C.J., that's just a rock," Matt replied, hobbling closer so he could bend over and take a look at the small stone idol C.J. had uncovered.

          C.J.'s eyes flew wide and he turned even paler.  "You have a death wish, mate?" he gasped.

          Matt glanced over at Chance, who looked a lot more worried than I expected.  Chance dipped his head and said, "Uh, sir, C.J. had a run in with that same statue and, well, let's just say that it wasn't real pretty."

          Benny Ray grinned.  "You guys are yankin' our chains, aren'tcha; a little island mumbo-jumbo."

          "I only wish I were, Benny Ray," C.J. replied with some honest fear in his voice.  "Major, you need to make amends, right now.  An offering of some sort, to say you're sorry – very sorry.  Trust me, Major, you want to do this – now."

Matt snorted and shook his head.  "Right now I'm looking forward to that luau you told us about.  I'm starving."

"But—" C.J. started, but Matt was already limping his way down the path, headed straight for the beach.

"All right," C.J. said under his breath, "but don't say I didn't try to warn you."

 

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

 

It took us another ten minutes before the path ended at the sand, and I decided right then and there that Chance and C.J. definitely had the right idea.  I could have easily have spent a year there myself.  It was such a beautiful spot – white sand, tall palms, water so clear.  It really was a paradise.

Chance jogged over to a group of people who were already there.  I found out later that some of them were their neighbors, others the people he and C.J. worked with.  Everyone was very friendly.  A woman smiled and started to walk over to join us, her gaze undressing Matt with each step.  And I could tell Matt was immediately entranced with her, too – so much so he tripped and almost fell flat on his face.  He would have, too, if Benny Ray hadn't caught him on the way down.

Well, she seemed to think that was rather cute, but her attention shifted, settling on Benny Ray.  She complimented him on his strength, then slipped her arm through his and led him off.  Matt watched them go, looking confused and a little annoyed.

"Maybe C.J. was right," I teased him.

He shot an "Oh, please" look my way, but I just shrugged and let a handsome Hawaiian man show me to where I'd be sitting.

They had roasted a pig in the traditional style for dinner, and it was delicious.  In fact, the sheer amount of food available that evening was nothing short of astonishing.  I tried to sample at least a bite of everything, but I know I probably didn't get to more than half of what was actually there.  A lot of it was traditional Hawaiian dishes, and they were truly marvelous, even the poi, which I wasn't sure I'd like.

Poor Matt, though, he didn't seem to be enjoying himself nearly as much as the rest of us.  I was sitting right across the blanket from him, with Benny Ray to my right and Chance to my left.  C.J. was sitting next to Chance, keeping a wary eye on Matt.

Let's just say that Major Shepherd was having a time of it.  First there were the bugs that seemed only interested in him, and which kept driving the pretty little blonde he'd met farther and father away, until she finally excused herself, stood and took her plate, and moved to our side of the blanket.

And then there was the fact that he kept spilling and dropping things.  You'd think he'd never eaten a meal in public before.  I'll admit, I found it rather amusing, but the longer it went on, the more muttering I heard coming from C.J.  Matt heard it too, and after a couple of hours or so he looked like he was ready to launch himself across the blanket and strangle C.J. where he sat.

I think it was when Matt choked on his drink that someone asked if there was something wrong and C.J. told them about the statue.  Benny Ray and I nearly choked ourselves from holding back our laughter while almost everyone there passed along their suggestions on how to appease the angry spirits who were haunting poor Matt.  Still, he took it all in stride, nodding and thanking the people for their advice.

After we ate, we lounged around on the beach for an hour or so, just relaxing.  I had a really interesting conversation with an older woman who turned out to be a former Naval officer.  She's married to a local private detective, whose best friend is Chance's boss.  But I'm getting off track.

During that hour Matt managed to twist his ankle, insult three women, one of whom slapped him, and nearly choke to death on a nut.

Then someone suggested a game of volleyball.  While most of us played, C.J. and a couple of other guys built up a bonfire and got it going.  One of the women who lived close by went home and made coffee, she and two of her friends carrying it back in several large thermoses.  When it got too dark to play any longer, we all gathered around the fire for coffee and some kind of local dessert made with coconut.  It was heavenly.

Matt was limping pretty badly by then, and the sand burns on his knees and hands had to be smarting.  But I think it was probably his head that hurt the most.  I never thought someone could actually get hit on the head by a falling coconut, but he managed it.  He was hobbling after the ball and when he stooped down to pick it up – pow! – the coconut hit the back of his head.  It knocked him right into the sand, too.  I think that's when he blackened the other eye.  But he swore he was all right when he came around, so they let him go back to the game, but I think by that time it was a matter of pride for Matt.  He refused to believe he might be cursed by some caved piece of stone.

But the rest of the guests were convinced and every time something went wrong, somebody would start up all with the necessary sacrifices he need to make to set things right.

And a lot was going wrong for Matt.  For example, he's usually a great beach volleyball player, but that night he, well, to be blunt, he sucked.  Maybe it was the fact that his eyes were swelled up a little, or maybe he was having trouble breathing though his broken nose, but whatever the reason, he couldn't serve to save his life, he couldn't get under anything to set it up for Benny Ray or one of the other players.  Even I was starting to feel sorry for him by the time our team had lost three games in a row thanks to some mistake Matt made.

And that's not even adding in all the headers he took into the sand, or the time he ran out to chase down the ball and got pounded by a freak wave that came up out of nowhere and almost drowned him, although I have to give him this: he didn't let go of the ball.  Don't tell him I said so, but I think he was probably using it as a flotation device.

While we were sitting around the bonfire, someone started telling a ghost story.  It wasn't bad either!  Everyone was listening, and just before the punch line at the end, a blood curdling scream made everyone jump.  It was Matt.

A spark from the fire had landed on his, um, lap and burned through his shorts.

Well, everybody laughed, and then, luckily for Matt, someone noticed that it was almost midnight.  Chilled champagne was poured for everyone, although where it had come from, I have no idea.  We all sang and toasted the official start of a new millennium.

It was pretty magical, all in all.  The warm night, the sound of the surf, stars overhead, the bonfire – everything, except the occasional moan from Matt.

After an hour or so, the party broke up and everyone began disappearing into the darkness.  The five of us were the last ones left on the beach.  Matt was moving pretty slowly by then.  We laid on the beach, waiting for Matt to catch his breath after Chance accidentally knocked the wind out of him, and talked about our lives and whether or not we'd still be alive this time next year.  Then we extinguished the fire, which had already burned down quite a bit already.

Chance led the way back to their house.  Matt still claims he was attacked by a "wild animal" on the walk back, but I'm sure it was just some neighbor's cat he startled.  In any case, his legs had stopped bleeding by the time we got back to the house.

Chance and C.J. didn’t have a guest room, so I got the inflatable bed on the floor of the living room and Matt and Benny Ray were left to fight it out for the sofa.  But Benny Ray was already feeling pretty sorry for Matt, so he said he'd take the floor.

They switched placed after Matt rolled over, fell off the sofa and hit his head on the coffee table.  He said he'd feel safer if he was closer to the floor.

Matt said he was plagued by mosquitoes all night, and had the bites to prove it, but I never heard any, and none of the rest of us had any bites the next day.

 

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

 

I woke up to the smell of coffee brewing.  After a quick shower I joined Benny Ray and Chance in the living room.  C.J. was in the kitchen, making breakfast.

"Where's Matt?" I asked.

Benny Ray shrugged, saying, "He was gone when I woke up this morning."

"Where did he go?"

The sniper shrugged again.  "Didn't leave a note."

Chance grinned.  "If he's smart, he's out there, begging that damned statue to forgive him."

I giggled.  "Maybe we should go looking for him," I told them.  "Given his recent run of bad luck, he might be lying out there somewhere hurt.'

"Uh, I wouldn't worry," C.J. said, walking into the living room.

He had that half-guilty look I recognized.  "Oh?" I asked.  "And how do you know that?"

Benny Ray and Chance both turned to look at C.J., who shifted nervously from foot to foot and tried to look innocent.  "Well, I, uh—"

"You told him what you did, didn't you," Chance said with a grin.

C.J. heaved a heavy sigh and nodded.  "Yeah.  Figured it was the least I could do for the man who saved my life – more than once."

Chance shook his head and laughed.

          "What did he do?" Benny Ray asked Chance.

          Chance levered off the sofa, saying, "Come on."

          Benny Ray and I stood and followed him outside.  He led us down the path until we heard Matt's voice coming from somewhere ahead of us.

          "So, I really am sorry – _very_ sorry.  I never meant to offend you.  I didn’t see you, and that was my fault – _completely_ my fault.  You had every reason to do what you did.  I just want you to know, I'm sorry and I'll never again doubt your power.  You have my sincere word on that.  So, if you can call off the curse now, I'd really appreciate it."

          Benny Ray was grinning, and I had my hand over my mouth to keep from laughing.

          C.J. glowered at both of us and said, "Hey, don't laugh, you might be next.  That damned statue is like a bad case of the clap."

          A moment later, Matt stepped around the bend in the path and came to an abrupt stop.  I hadn't realized how bad his eyes looked, or that he had somehow split his lip the night before.  And the limp was much worse that it had been last night, but that might have been due to the fact that the sand burns had scabbed over his knees, making it hard for him to bend them.

          All in all, he looked about as bad as I've ever seen him.

          "What?" he snapped.

          "Nothin', boss," Benny Ray said.  "Just wanted t' let ya know breakfast is ready."

          Matt studied each of us in turn, then asked C.J., "Do you think it's safe?"

          "Probably," he replied.  "Did you leave the, uh, offerings?"

          "Offerings?" I asked.

          "Never mind," Matt growled back at me.  Then he nodded for C.J.

          "And did you… you know?" C.J. asked.

          Matt nodded again, his cheeks turning bright red.

          "What?" Benny Ray asked.

          "Never mind!" Matt bellowed, then stomped past us, he and C.J. leading the way back.

          When they were out of earshot, Chance said, "When C.J. kicked it a couple of days after we moved in, the locals told him he had to make an offering of food, wine and flowers.  Then he had to wash the statue, kiss its feet, and plead for forgiveness and mercy.  Oh, and because it was put out by an old Maori woman who lived there back during World War II, he had to, uh, well, he was supposed to, uh—"

          "Come on, man," Benny Ray urged him, "we're dyin' of curiosity now."

          "He had to drop his drawers and hope he was man enough to impress her."

          "And he was?" Benny Ray asked, the doubt clear in his voice, but we both knew he was kidding.

          Chance grinned.  "Guess so, nothing bad has happened to him since."

          "So, I hope the Major made an impression, too," Benny Ray said, grinning.

          "We'll see," I told him.

 

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

 

          Two days later we were on a plane headed back to Los Angeles.  Matt was healing up, although he was still a little skittish.  But once the plane was in the air he seemed to relax.

          He and Benny Ray watched me try and reposition the bag of souvenirs under the seat in front of me and grinned.

"What'd you do, buy out the shops in the airport?" Matt asked.

          I scowled at him.  "No, I just picked up a few things to remember the trip."

          It was his turn to scowl.  "I'm not going to have any trouble remembering that trip," he muttered, turning to stare out the window.

          "What's ya find?" Benny Ray asked me.

          I reached down and pulled the bag up and into my lap.  I opened it so Benny Ray could see what was inside.  He look one look and started to laugh.

          "What?" Matt asked.  "What did she find?"

          I wasn't sure I wanted him to see it, but I let him lean over and take a peek.  He immediately went pale and collapsed back against his chair.

          "Margo, how could you—?  That's not—?  Is it?"

"No," I assured him, pulling the small stone statue out of the bag and admiring it.  "I found this at the airport.  I just thought I wouldn’t mind having some of that powerful female energy watching over my place when we're off on an assignment."

"Well," Benny Ray drawled softly, "she'll definitely chase folks away from your door."

"Careful," I warned him.  "You wouldn't want to piss her off."

Benny Ray's hands immediately came up in a placating gesture.  "Oh no, ma'am, I sure as hell wouldn't want to do that.  They'd toss me in jail if I had to drop my pants for her here on the plane."

Benny Ray and I laughed, but Matt just eyed the statue warily.  "Just keep her away from me," he begged softly.  "One dose of curse is more than enough."

"I don't think you have to worry," I told him with a grin.  "You've already made quite an impression on her."

And that was how the year 2001 started.  I should have known it would set the stage for a year full of unexpected surprises…


End file.
